The Chronicles with Alice
by Fox Alder
Summary: Alice Baker hated the war, but it brought to knew friends and a world she didn't even imagine would have a place for her. Movie Verse.
1. Chapter 1

Alice Baker hated the wars, she hated Germany for taking her father and brother away from her, she hated the bombs that made her have to leave, and she hated that she had to leave her mother all alone in London. She was sitting alone on the wooden station waiting for a Mrs. Macready to come and take her to where she would be staying until it was safe for her to go home.

She fiddled with her tag to make sure it said the correct name of the station and looked back at the sign, 'Coombe Halt'. Sighing when she saw they were the same she stood again and her boredom was cut off by the sound of another train.

"Is someone else staying with the Professor?" Alice asked herself, she hoped his home was big enough for all of them. Soon the train stopped and four children got off.

The oldest looked to be sixteen and had blonde hair. He was helping the youngest girl off the train and she looked maybe nine or ten and held onto a stuffed puppy. Alice smiled at her and the little girl hid her face into her brother's side but soon peeked out to look at her.

The next two were an older girl and a boy perhaps a year older than her. They were holding some of the luggage and looked around.

"Are you waiting for Mrs. Macready as well?" The oldest girl asked, sounding smart.

"Yes, though I've been waiting for more than an hour." Alice answered her back, her suspicions had been answered with the girls question. They were to be living together.

"Perhaps we've been improperly labeled." The younger boy said looking at his tag.

"Even her Ed?" The blonde boy asked him looking at his brother.

"It's all right, I thought the same thing. I probably checked my tag three times." Alice said quickly not wanting an argument, she hated when people argued, her mother had always told her foolish fights were wastes of good energy.

"I'm Peter Pevensie." The oldest told her holding out his hand, she took it and shook it.

"My name is Alice Baker, and who is this sweetheart?" She asked the little girl next to him who was still shyly hiding behind him.

"Lucy." She whispered quietly and hid her face just a bit more.

"Well Lucy I like your puppy, he seems very nice, what's his name?" Alice asked her, she had always watched her cousins when her family visited her Aunt Ida in Brighton, and complimenting their toys always got them to smile. It seemed to work on Lucy too.

"His name is Alfred, and he's very happy to meet you." Lucy said with a smile and though she still held onto Peter's coat she came out from behind her brother a bit more.

Alice stood up and smiled at the other two siblings, the oldest girl smiling at her while the other boy just rolled his eyes while looking at the road.

"My name is Susan, and the rude one over there is Edmund." Susan explained as she looked pointedly at her brother who looked back over with an annoyed look on his face and looked Alice over before turning back to look at the road.

"Someone's coming." He said to everyone and went to grab his suitcase, and everyone else did the same but the car that came only passed the station and went on.

"The Professor knew we were coming." Susan said to Peter and Edmund once again looked at his tag.

"I still think it's the Label." Edmund said again and Alice couldn't help but agree with him, but soon enough a horse drawn wagon was trailing its way up the road and stopped in front of them. The driver was a severe looking woman with a tight bun and a strict looking face.

"Mrs. Macready?" Peter asked, being the first one to speak.

"I'm afraid so." She answered back, and a small part of Alice laughed inside at her sarcasm, though she wouldn't dare show it on her face and kept her face very blank.

"Is this it, haven't you brought anything else?" She asked the five of them, and they all knew it seemed liked very little. She probably expected one of them to have a trunk at the very least.

"No Ma'm, it's just us." He answered back, and Alice nodded for herself.

"Small favors." And she nodded for them to get in, the five grabbed the suitcases and made their way to the back of the wagon and soon they were moving.

"So where are you all from?" Alice asked them, hoping to make polite conversation and get to know them better so living with one another wouldn't be so strange.

"Finchley." Susan answered politely, "and you?"

"Central London." Alice answered, fiddling with a loose strand on her coat.

"Wow so you were right in the middle of the bombings?" Edmund asked her leaning in a bit.

"Ed, I don't think that's something any of us want to talk about." Peter told his younger brother, and he was very right. The raids terrified Alice, ever since they began and since her school had been hit she never wanted to hear another siren in her life.

"Do you like any books?" Susan asked leading to another topic, hopefully brightening the somber mood.

"Well, I like the book Alice in wonderland." She answered with a small smile.

"Well that figures." Edmund said with a laugh but Peter slapped his arm telling him not to be rude.

"No he's right, it's why I picked the book up in the first place, but then when I read it I really liked it a lot. My favorite character was the March Hare." She said smiling.

"And how old are you?" Lucy asked her holding her puppy close.

"I'm twelve." She said, thinking about her birthday back in December.

"So is Edmund!" Lucy said with the delight only someone here age could have at such a simple topic.

"Really? When's your birthday?" Alice asked, liking the fact that someone here was her own age.

"February 11th." He answered her and she smiled big.

"I'm older than you are then, I was born December 21!" She said with a laugh and he looked at her with a glare.

"That doesn't count, we're still the same age." Edmund told her.

"Oh whatever, I just thought it was funny." She said trying to avoid the argument but didn't need help with that when they saw the Professor's house, no it was more like a mansion.

There were stain glass windows and what looked like towers.

"It's like a castle." Lucy said, and Alice nodded with a still shocked look on her face.

They soon stopped and were led to the front door and Mrs. Macready let them in.

"Now the Professor isn't accustomed to having children in his home, and as such there are a few rules you'll be needing to follow." She said in her thick northern accent. "There will be no shouting, no running, no improper use of the dumbwaiter, and no touching of the historical artifacts!" She told the last one specifically to Susan as she was about to touch a statue.

At that point Lucy and Alice placed there free hands at their sides to keep from temptation.

"And above all there shall be no disturbing of the professor."

Soon enough the Pevensies an Alice were led to their rooms. Alice would share a room with Lucy and Susan while Edmund and Peter would share another.

Since there were only two beds Alice said she might go ask if there was another room to use so everyone could have their own bed but Susan told her it was fine and got Lucy ready for bed around seven. Peter came in later when Lucy was lying down to say good night and the radio soon turned from music to relays of what was happening in with the raids.

Susan saw how uncomfortable the news seemed to make both Alice and Lucy so she turned it off.

"These sheets feel scratchy." Lucy said as she wiggled a bit in them and Alice had to agree, they seemed to be made of wool.

"Wars don't last forever Lu, we'll be home soon." Susan told her sister and Alice nodded in agreement.

"If there's still a home to go back to." Edmund said as he walked into the room, Alice gave him a hard look and he soon stuck his tongue out at her in retaliation, but not wanting to start a fight she took a breath and turned to listen to Peter.

"You saw outside, this place is huge! We can do whatever we want. Tomorrow is going to be great." After ruffling her hair and giving her a kiss goodnight Peter left the room and Edmund told his sisters goodnight as well but making a show not to say it to Alice.

"Susan your brother is a prat." Alice said as she went to put on her nightgown, all Susan did was sigh, and smile sadly.

"He wasn't always like that. It's just, since dad left Peter's been trying to be the 'man of the house' and Edmund hates it. He just misses the way everything was before the war." Susan told her as she changed as well. "At least you aren't pushing him into argue with you."

"My mother always told me 'foolish fights are the waste of good energy' so I try to avoid them as much as possible. I like to be happy, not broody." Alice told Susan with a laugh and eye roll as she got into her bed while Susan went and grabbed a book she had brought with her to read before she went to bed.

"Do you really think we can do whatever we want here?" She asked in a sleepy voice, turning to face her sister.

"Of course Lucy." Susan told her before both Lucy and Alice dozed off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Gastro Vascular." Susan said while Lucy looked out the window at the rain.

_'So much for anything we want.'_ Lucy thought to herself while her sister tried to quiz her brother with words from the dictionary. Alice was at one of the tables playing solitaire since Lucy didn't know how to play any card games other than go fish, and Edmund didn't want to play with her at all.

"Come on Peter Gastro Vascular." Susan said to her brother trying to make the time go faster.

"Is it Latin?" He asked her, truly not wanting to play the game. And no one could blame him.

"Yes." Susan said smiling that her brother seemed to become interested again.

"Is it Latin for worst game ever invented?" Edmund said from his spot underneath a chair and Alice laughed with a snort finding the comment funny.

Susan however didn't seem to find it funny and slammed the rather large dictionary shut.

"We could play hide and seek." Lucy said coming over from the window, and Alice liked the idea. Who knew all the places they could hide in the manor. Peter seemed to think about it for a moment before looking at Susan.

"But we're already having so much fun." He said and Susan gave him a look that showed how 'amused' she was at her brother.

"Come on Peter please!" Lucy said dragging out the last word, and by then Alice knew they were going to play. Who could say no to such a cute girl as Lucy?

The others just looked at him, Susan waiting and Edmund annoyed before he began top count and Lucy started to run.

"What?" Edmund asked, clearly not wanting to play but was pulled up by Alice and pushed out the door before she ran to find her own hiding spot.

She saw Susan getting into a trunk and soon enough found herself running and seeing a tapestry on the wall. On it was a very big tree with silver looking apples and looking behind it she found a small alcove and dove in to hide and wait though she didn't have to wait long.

"It's all right, I'm back! I'm all right!" This made Alice wonder what was wrong and she poked her head out from the tapestry. She saw Susan coming from her hiding space and soon made to follow her.

"Weren't you wondering where I was?" She heard Lucy asking from around the corner and followed Susan to see Peter Edmund and Lucy standing in the hallway.

"That's why he was seeking you." Edmund told her a bit rudely, but Alice could understand why. Since Lucy was the one who wanted to play, you'd think she would know the rules.

"Does this mean we win?" Susan asked and Alice looked at them with a smile.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore." Peter told them and Edmund looked at her wondering what had happened.

"But I've been gone for hours." Lucy told them, her brows furrowed in confusion.

"What?" Alice asked while she walked up to Lucy and knelt down.

"Lucy we just started play, I just found my hiding spot." Alice told her and Lucy looked shocked.

"But I went to Narnia, it's in the back of the wardrobe!" She said running back to the room she came from.

"Wardrobe? Lucy come back!" Peter said to her as the followed.

Soon they were in a spare room where a massive wardrobe was standing.

'It's really pretty.' Alice thought looking at the designs as Lucy told her siblings more about the land she went to, and the Faun she met Mr. Tumnus.

"It's right through there, the way to Narnia!" Lucy said and Susan went forward looking inside and pushing away the coats, while she and Edmund looked at the back.

As he knocked on the wood she just looked at him and shrugged her shoulders not really knowing what to say. It was just an old, though pretty, wardrobe and there wasn't anything special about it.

"Lucy the only wood in here is at the back of the wardrobe." Susan told her sister. Lucy looked at the wardrobe not believing her ears. It had been there, she knew it!

"One game at a time Lu, we don't all have your imagination." Peter said to her, Alice understood what he meant. Lucy was young, she probably played pretend all the time. Soon they were leaving the room.

"But I wasn't imagining!" Lucy told them starting to tear up and Alice felt for her, but a forest in the back of a wardrobe? That just wasn't possible.

"Lucy that's enough." Susan told her in a stricter voice.

"I wouldn't lie about this!" Lucy yelled at them, she couldn't believe they wouldn't know she was telling the truth!

"Well I believe you." Edmund started, catching Alice off guard.

"You do?" Lucy asked hopefully, but a bit surprised, out of everyone she expected Edmund to stand up for her last.

"Of course, didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboard?" he had only meant for it to be a joke, probably to stop Lucy from crying but it hadn't worked out how he had expected.

"Oh will you just stop? You just have to make everything worse don't you?" Peter asked him, and Alice wanted to stop it right there. She knew they would start fighting so she moved forward only to be held back by Susan who shook her head.

"It was just a joke." Edmund said, and he meant it. He wanted to make everyone laugh and for Lucy to say she was only pretending, but no Peter just had to take everything so seriously!

"When are you gonna learn to grow up?" Peter asked his brother in a patronizing tone.

"Shut up! You think your dad but you're not!" Edmund yelled at his brother before leaving the room and Alice let him past her.

"Well that was nicely handled." Susan said before following her younger brother and leaving the room.

Alice was left with Peter and Lucy, but before she could speak she was cut off by Lucy.

"But it really was there." Lucy said to them, before Peter looked at her with a sorry look.

"Susan's right Lucy, that's enough." And soon he was out of the room leaving Alice with Lucy.

She didn't really know her place here, she wasn't Lucy's sister or even a member of their family but she still felt bad. Lucy really seemed to believe in this world and probably just wanted to tell someone about the world she had imagined so she thought she might as well hear her out.

"Lucy why don't you tell me about this Mr. Tumnus?" Alice asked her, hoping it would put her in better spirits.

"You mean you believe me?" Lucy asked her, wiping away the tears in her eyes.

"Well, I may be a bit skeptical but maybe your story could convince me." She said holding out her hand and leading her to the wardrobe.

"So you don't believe me." Lucy said with a sad look on her face.

"Lucy the world you're talking about sounds marvelous, but a bit farfetched when you think about it. But I would like to hear about it never the less. It sounds interesting." Alice said, so Lucy sat down and told Alice all about Narnia and Mr. Tumnus. She told her about the strange lamppost in the middle of the forest an about the Witch.

"So there's a witch in Narnia?" Alice asked as Lucy told of her escape.

"Yes, she's the one who makes it always winter. She told everyone in Narnia that if humans find their way into Narnia they have to give them up to her." Lucy told her in a low voice. As if speaking a secret, but then again to Lucy it almost was.

"I wonder what she does to them?" Alice wondered aloud but then caught herself as she realized that she was almost beginning to believe her. The way Lucy told her tale so genuinely made Alice want to go to Narnia herself.

"Well she makes it always winter but never Christmas so it can't be anything good." Lucy said using her ten-year-old logic.

"Always winter and never Christmas? That's terrible." Alice said to Lucy, she soon saw that it was getting dark so she stood up. "I think everyone's going to wonder where we are soon. So why don't we wash up and head to supper?"

Lucy nodded and took Alice's hand before they made their way out of the room.

"Oh I'll close the wardrobe. We don't want Mrs. Macready to know we've been here now do we?" Alice told Lucy before she pushed her lightly out of the room.

As she made her way to the wardrobe she felt a cold chill run up her back, and she looked around wondering what had made it. Finding nothing she closed the door and left the room, but not without thinking how the tree on the wardrobe looked similar to the tree on the tapestry.


	3. Chapter 3

It was later that night while Alice was getting ready for bad that she was thinking again about Lucy's world. She didn't want to say it but some small part of her believed her. I mean how could Lucy have made it up? She said she hadn't known what a faun was before she met Mr. Tumnus, but then it was the rational part of her said that fauns didn't exist in the first place. Susan brought her out of her thoughts.

"Alice, do you want me to braid your hair for you so it doesn't get tangled?" Alice was a bit taken aback by the question. Her mother had always braided her hair before bed. It was the only time everything seemed to go back to normal.

She would even braid her hair while they were in the shelter and it was almost like a magic spell the way the nice simple order of the braid would keep away the chaos around them. Hold them together.

"Thank you Susan that would be really nice." She told her with a smile.

"Lucy could you hand me that brush?" Susan asked her sister and Lucy complied though she was silent. Talking to Alice had made her feel better but she was still cross with her siblings who hadn't even let her talk.

"You have such long hair." Susan told Alice as she began to brush it. The light brown hair reached a bit below the middle of her back.

"I told my mother when I was really little I wanted to have hair as long as Rapunzel's after she read me the story. She let me grow it out, but she wouldn't let it get any longer than it was now, or else she would go crazy from having to keep it orderly." She told Susan and her sister, Lucy though seemed to be thinking of her world and Susan didn't say anything. Hoping that soon it would all be forgotten.

Alice closed her eyes in happiness when Susan started to actually braid her hair, reveling in the familiar feeling, but after a moment it was done and Susan called Lucy over so she could brush her hair as well.

"What should we do tomorrow?" Susan asked them both as she ran the brush through Lucy's short hair.

"Maybe we could look around the grounds if it isn't too muddy." Alice said from her own bed, and got herself underneath the covers.

"That sounds nice doesn't it?" Susan asked Lucy but she didn't answer and as Susan finished brushing Lucy went to sleep and Susan did the same.

It was probably an hour later when Lucy got back up. She grabbed her galoshes and a candle and made her way out the door.

Alice had always been a light sleep and the sound of the door closing had roused her from sleep. Soon she sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes and yawning. As she looked over at her roommates she saw that Lucy was gone and so was the Candle she always kept in the room. Alice sensed that she had probably gone back to the wardrobe.

"Oh, well this is lovely." Alice thought as she got up and grabbed her slippers and robe. She opened the door and thought she heard another voice but shook it off as the wind. She walked through the hallway she had played hide and seek in the day before and saw the Tapestry again and thought about the similarities between it and the wardrobe, but soon pressed on the spare room.

When she reached the door she wanted she thought she may have heard a familiar voice.

_'Edmund?'_ She wondered, hoping he wasn't try to scare the poor girl but as she went in she saw no one. "Maybe they're in the wardrobe?" She asked herself out loud but before she could take another step the door of the wardrobe burst open and out popped Lucy and Edmund, who looked pale.

"Edmund, Lucy is that snow in your hair?" Alice asked them not believing her eyes. Was it true?

"Alice! Edmund made it through too isn't it marvelous! I have to wake up Susan and Peter. They'll have to believe me now!" Lucy said running out of the room and leaving Alice and Edmund alone.

"It's real?" Alice asked him looking at the snow on his clothes and shoes.

"Well, I mean." Edmund started, not knowing how to say it.

"Did you see the faun?" Alice asked with a smile, before Edmund ran out of the room to find Lucy, Alice hot on his heels calling his name.

They ran into Peter's room with Susan and saw Lucy jumping on Peter's bed, yelling about how Narnia really was there.

"And this time Edmund went too!" Lucy called out as she looked at her brother and Alice did the same. The snow had now melted but Alice knew she had seen it.

"You- You saw the faun?" Peter asked him, still not believing it, not really but having to ask him all the same.

Edmund just looked at them and Alice had a good idea of what might happen, he shook his head but Lucy started again.

"Well he didn't actually go there with me." Lucy began but then a puzzled look came over her face, "What were you doing Edmund?"

Alice saw him look at his siblings and her before sighing and getting a smart look on his face.

"I was just playing along. I'm sorry Peter, I shouldn't have encouraged her. You know what little children are like these days. They just don't know when to stop pretending." All while he was saying this Alice was looking between him and Lucy as she started to cry and ran out of the room. Alice followed Lucy out throwing a disapproving look at Edmund. She heard Susan and Peter behind her but she was the first to see Lucy run into and older looking gentleman with wild white hair.

Lucy threw her arms around the man's waist and cried into his robe, looking at Alice then Peter and Susan when they found their way up the stairs.

"You children are one shenanigan shy of sleeping in the stables!" Mrs. Macready yelled when she came out in her robe, with her long hair loose, but stopped when she saw the scene before her. "Professor, I told the children you were not to be disturbed." She said looking pointedly at the Pevensies and Alice.

"It's all right Mrs. Macready I'm sure there's an explanation." The professor began and soon was leading Lucy to Mrs. Macready, "but first I think the little one here could stand for some hot chocolate."

Alice looked at Lucy as she walked away and heard Susan and Peter start to leave behind her, but they were stopped by the voice of the professor.

"If you three could come with me please?" He asked them. They followed him down a hallway and into a study, there were many books around the room and a couple of couches to the side near some windows.

The Professor went over to his table and grabbed a long pipe, reaching for his tobacco in a silver apple container.

_'Again with the apples?'_ Alice wondered, but he just looked at them.

"You've seemed to disrupt the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper." He told them and Alice held in a small giggle at his joke.

"Very sorry sir, I won't happen again." Peter said quickly and tried to get Susan out of the room, but she wouldn't have it.

"It's our sister sir, Lucy." Susan began,

"The weeping girl?" The professor asked her and Alice looked around his room, wondering why she had been brought as well, seeing as this was mostly a family matter, and she was not a Pevensie.

"Yes sir, she's upset." Susan told him, trying to sound like an adult.

"Hence the weeping." The professor told her.

"It's nothing we can handle it sir." Peter started.

'He really does try to take charge a lot.' Alice thought to herself, seeing a small bit of truth in Edmunds words yesterday about Peter and their father.

"Oh yes I can see that." The professor told him, and Alice smiled slightly towards the older man. He was very nice in her eyes, and seemed to understand a bit of what was going on.

"She thinks she's found a magical land in the upstairs wardrobe." And at those words Alice knew he believed it. The way his jovial smile had been replaced with a look of shock told her so.

"What did you say?" He asked her leading the two older siblings to a couch in the study and Alice made no move to join them, merely staying in her seat in the chair next to the desk.

"The wardrobe upstairs, Lucy thinks she's found a forest inside of it." He said exasperatedly.

"She won't stop going on about it." Susan said.

"What was it like?" The professor asked them with a bit of wonder in his voice. Susan and Peter looked at him though as if he were talking about their sister.

"Like talking to a lunatic." Susan told him, but Alice knew what he really meant.

"No, no not her the forest." He said quickly.

'He really believes in it!' Alice thought, looking at the professor, feeling a lot less mad than she had earlier.

"You're not saying you believe her?" Peter said to him skeptically.

"Well you don't?" The professor asked them as if he were asking how much sugar they could like in their tea!

"Well of course not, I mean logically it's impossible." Susan began, saying the word that seemed to destroy all dreams. Logic.

"What do they teach in schools these days?" The Professor asked himself and this time Alice couldn't hold in her small giggle and the trio seemed to remember she was there.

"And you miss…" The professor began but didn't seem to remember her name.

"Baker sir, Alice Baker and I don't really know. Lucy is pretty convincing." Alice told him not looking at Susan or Peter.

"Alice you can't be serious, it is impossible for a magical land to be inside a wardrobe!" Susan told her, but Alice still wasn't sold.

"Susan, I saw them come out of the wardrobe." Alice began, trying to make them at least think about it.

"So what, it means they were playing inside it. Not that they went to a magical world." Peter told her standing up. "Beside's Edmund said they were only pretending."

"And he is usually more truthful?" The Professor asked him.

"Well, not exactly." Peter said caught in his own words, "This would be the first time."

"Well then my boy, if she's not mad, and she's not lying then logically we must assume she is telling the truth." Alice agreed with the Professors words, Lucy wouldn't create a lie this big, she was far too sweet.

"So you're saying we should just believe her?" Peter asked raising and eyebrow to a man he felt more and more needed to be put into a straight jacket rather than around children.

"She's your sister. You're a family." The professor told them, "You might just try acting like one."

After the Professor had said his peace the two left but Alice stayed behind.

"Professor, I don't know what this may do but… I swear on my life Lucy and Edmund had snow on their clothes when they came out of the wardrobe!" Alice told him while they were alone in the office. The professor smiled and sat back in his chair behind the desk, smoking his pipe.

"Ah, so you believe Lucy?" The Professor asked her with a knowing look.

"I think I do, even though I know I shouldn't." Alice said to herself looking again at the silver apple container on his desk. "Professor, why do you have so many silver apples in your home?" Alice asked and the Professor stumbled a bit.

"Why would you ask that child?" He asked with a strange look on his face.

"Well it's just, I saw it on a tapestry today when we were playing hide and seek, and then the tree on the wardrobe looked the same as the one on the tapestry. Then there's the one on your desk." Alice answered pointing at the apple in question.

"Ah, quite attentive aren't we?" The Professor asked her.

"I guess, I was just curious." Alice said with a small smile, no one had ever called her attentive before. She didn't know what it meant, but the way he said it she was sure it was a good thing.

"Well my dear, I was almost tempted by something like this once." The professor said lifting up the silver case on his desk.

"A silver apple?" Alice asked him, she had heard of red, green and yellow apples, but never silver.

"Yes, someone tried to tempt me with one. Used everything she could think of to try and get me to take one, but I refused. So I keep them around to remind me not to fall into any temptations that may come my way." The professor told her proud of what he had done.

"What did she offer you?" Alice asked, leaning forward.

"Oh a great many things, and by the lion I wanted them, but none of it was worth what would come after for me. I was given the task not to take an apple by someone very important, who believed that I could do amazing things. Resisting the temptation was hard, but I knew that by doing it I was doing what needed to be done." The Professor told her.

"That's so brave of you!" Alice told him.

"Really?" The Professor asked wondering how it was.

"You resisted something you wanted, to do what was right, and what you were asked to do. You could have failed and had someone you trusted disappointed in you, but instead you followed your heart! I think that's amazing." Alice told him.

The Professor was quite happy with these words, she truly was a bright child with a good head on her shoulders.

"Well, I believe it is time for you to go to sleep, and don't count Lucy short the next time she talks of Narnia." He told her and she soon stood up but stopped at the door turning around,

"You know…" But he just winked at her and she smiled at him before heading back to the room meeting Lucy on the way.

"Lucy, do you think I could go to Narnia soon?" She asked her with smile.

The little girl looked at her with eyes still a bit red from crying but broke out into a big smile and gave her a hug.

"Of course you can!"


	4. Chapter 4

The next day was sunny and nice so Susan and Peter thought a game of cricket would do everyone some good, but while Peter, Susan and Edmund played Lucy and Alice talked about possibly going to Narnia that night.

"You have to hear Mr. Tumnus play his flute, it's so beautiful." Alice smiled at Lucy's words and turned her head at the sound of Edmund.

"Ow!" Edmund shouted holding his leg and Alice giggled.

"Wake up dolly daydream!" Peter shouted out running forward to get the ball.

"Can't we play hide and seek?" Edmund asked and perked Alice's interest. Did he want to go back to Narnia too?

"I thought you said it was a kid's game." Peter told him with a smirk.

"Besides we could all use the fresh air." Susan said trying to diffuse the topic and bring it back to cricket.

"It's not like there isn't air inside." Edmund said as he prepared himself for Peter's next shot.

"Are you ready?" Peter asked him preparing to throw.

"Are you?" Edmund quipped back, tired of his brother talking to him like he was a little kid.

Getting a running start Peter soon tossed the ball and Edmund made for a hit but instead of it going the way it was supposed to the ball went to the manor and through one of the windows. A large crash following the ball going through the glass.

The five children looked at each other and then at the window before they all started to get up and run towards the manor.

"I think it's this room!" Susan said as she opened one of the doors to find a suit of armor lying on the ground the ball next to it, and a hole in one of the most likely expensive windows.

"Well done Ed." Peter started.

"You balled it!" Edmund said loudly.

"I told you the game was too close to the house!" Alice said to the two boys before they all heard the voice they all wished they hadn't.

"The Macready!" Susan said before they all ran out of the room.

They seemed to run all over the house but no matter which way they turned it seemed like the Macready was there making big stomping steps and before they knew it they were in the spare room closing the door behind them. Ed kept going forward though and opened the wardrobe door.

"Well come on!" He said pointing to the door, but Susan and Peter wouldn't have it. Lucy and Alice however looked at each other and smiled a bit.

"You've got to be joking." Susan said, she had wanted this all to be done with. But soon the footsteps were coming down the hallway and they all moved forward into the cramped wardrobe.

"Ow my foot!" Peter yelled.

"Your foot my foot!" Susan yelled as well.

"Who's touching my bum?" Alice yelled out to whoever the culprit was.

"Sorry." Edmund said embarrassed as he moved his hand.

After yelling for a few more seconds Peter and Susan found themselves falling back into the snow astonished at what was around them. The stood up and walked out with Edmund, Alice and Lucy behind them all looking around.

"Impossible." Susan whispered and Alice just smiled.

"Narnia." She said looking at Lucy who just nodded.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's just your imagination." Lucy said happily to her oldest siblings while she walked into the snow.

"I don't suppose saying we're sorry would quite cover it?" Peter asked his sister, trying to figure out how he would apologize.

"No it wouldn't" Lucy began, but soon pulled a snowball from behind her back and threw it at her brother, "but that might!"

Soon it was a full on snowball fight and Alice turned to hit Edmund but noticed him looking at something and turned to see for herself, before Susan hit him with a snowball of her own.

"Ow, stop it!" He told them, Alice then looked again at the hills. What was so important about them, had it been where Edmund was the last time he was here?

"You little liar!" Peter said bringing Alice out of her thoughts.

"You didn't believe her either." Edmund told him, and Alice could understand, he didn't want his siblings to treat him how they were treating Lucy.

"Apologize to Lucy." Peter told him "Say you're sorry." This time Alice would get in the way if they tried to fight but Edmund saw there was no way out.

"All right, I'm sorry." Edmund said looking at his older brother then to Lucy.

"It's all right, some little children just don't know when to stop pretending." Lucy said with a triumphant look on her face.

"Maybe we should go back." Susan began, but Alice didn't want to, she wanted to see as much as she could!

"Shouldn't we at least take a look around?" Edmund said, pointing the way of the mountains.

"I think that sounds like a great idea!" Alice said happily looking at Peter and Lucy.

"I think Lucy should decide." Peter reasoned, and Alice was ecstatic, she knew Lucy would want them to stay.

"I'd like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus!" Lucy began and Alice ran over to her.

"I really want to as well, from what Lucy says he's wonderful." Alice said to them.

"Then Mr. Tumnus it is." Peter said walking to the entrance again and grabbing some coats.

"But we can't go hiking around in the snow dressed like this!" Susan told them as she rubbed her arms through her thin sweater.

"Well I'm sure the Professor won't mind us borrowing these then will he? Besides when you think about it logically we aren't even taking them out of the wardrobe." Peter told them as he handed everyone on of the warm fur coats in the wardrobe.

"But that's a girl's coat." Edmund said to his brother, but Peter didn't seem to really care.

"I know that." Peter told him before walking off and Edmund just looked at him annoyed.

Alice only watched and saw that Edmunds siblings seemed to be leaving him by himself, so Alice felt that he needed to know someone saw him. So she walked back up the racks and grabbed a black coat meant for a boy.

"Hey Ed, here I think this would suit you better." She told him holding out the coat and he grabbed it from her a bit forcefully before looking at her again.

"Thanks." He said under his breath as he put on the coat.

"I'm sorry Peter's acting that way towards you." Alice told him as she put on her own dark brown fur coat.

"It's not like it's your fault." He told her when they started walking.

"Yes, but I can see it upsets you." Alice told him while he walked next to him looking at Lucy excitingly tell her siblings about Mr. Tumnus.

"Why are you being nice to me, you knew from the start I was lying when you saw the snow." Edmund asked her, he had been wondering it since last night.

"I could understand why you didn't say anything, you didn't want you siblings to treat you like you were crazy." She told him looking at his face while they walked, and she saw Susan looking back at them but only smiled at her to tell her everything was okay.

"It's just Peter, he acts like he's our dad, but he's not him!" Edmund said to himself.

"You should be happy you have your brother with you." Alice said slightly more to herself.

Edmund stopped walking at that and Alice did a few steps ahead of him and he looked at her.

"Your brother's in the army?" Edmund asked her and Alice nodded. "Do you know where he's stationed?"

"He isn't stationed anywhere anymore." Alice said looking down and staring very hard at a fallen twig.

The intake of air told Alice when Edmund understood her words. He hadn't ever thought of it like that, Peter wanted nothing more than to become a soldier and Edmund understood why and suspected it would happen when he turned eighteen but never thought about him not coming back. While he and Peter always argued he could never imagine a world without his brother in it. He may not like his brother, but he did love him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Edmund told her walking up and noticing his siblings stopping, Peter looking at his brother thinking he had done something stupid again but the shake of Edmunds head told him something else was amiss.

"Its fine", she said turning around and walking forwards. "I don't really like to talk about it, but I thought you needed to hear it." She told him while he walked next to her.

"How did it happen?" Edmund asked her, he felt stupid for it after but she looked and him and took a big breath.

"He was a fighter pilot, him and my father both. He went down fighting on a mission in Germany. My father is still fighting in Poland." She said, her father had been a pilot for many years before the war and when they needed pilots he signed up as fast as he could. Her brother following when he was old enough.

It was hard when her family had found out last year but they were strong, she and her mother pulled each other further and they had survived.

"He died fighting for what he knew was right, and my father still fights. I know my brother keeps him safe in the sky." She said looking up at the clouds.

"My father's fighting to." Edmund said, missing his father and the way everything was before air raids and bombs.

"Then I'll pray for my brother to watch him as well." She said smiling at him.

They soon caught up to the group and while Peter and Susan wondered what had happened Edmund shook his head and Alice only smiled while Lucy talked about tea with Mr. Tumnus.

They stopped at a lamppost in the middle of the forest, its metal freezing and frosted over but the light still flickering. Susan and Peter looked up at it smiling, but they pushed ahead to where Lucy said Mr. Tumnus' home was.

Soon though Lucy stopped and stared at what looked like door in a hill. But Alice looked closer and found the door had been smashed open and Lucy ran towards it, her siblings and Alice following behind calling her name.

When they entered the home the group saw that it had been ransacked. Chairs over turned and books ripped. No fire in the hearth and what looked to be a dinner over turned onto the floor in the kitchen. As if someone had been taken while they were cooking.

Edmund stopped and Alice bumped into him whispering a sorry and looked down to what he had been looking at, a picture of a bearded man with horns, but there were claws marks slashed across the face of the portrait.

"Who would do something like this?" Lucy asked to no one in particular as she kept looking around. It was Peter who came with the answer from a paper nailed to the wall.

"The Faun Tumnus has been arrested for High Treason against her highness Jadis Queen of Narnia for comforting her enemies and harboring a human." Peter read and Alice took in a breath, looking around at Lucy then at Edmund who seemed extremely uncomfortable.

"All right it's time we go home." Susan told her brother and sister, but Lucy wouldn't have it,

"No don't you see? I'm the human their talking about. I'm the one he hid!" Lucy told her sister, starting to cry.

"I don't think there's much we can do." Susan told her sister.

"How did she found out?" Lucy wondered, looking around the room sadly.

"Maybe it was one of the trees. You told me Mr. Tumnus said that some of them were on her side." Alice told Lucy who took in the idea.

"Trees?" Susan asked with a look of disbelief on her face.

"We are in a magical world in the back of a wardrobe where fauns exist. I'm willing to believe it. Maybe we should call the police." Peter said as he crumpled up the paper.

"These are the police Peter." Susan told him talking the paper out of his hand and looking it over herself.

"Why should we help him, I mean he's a criminal." Edmund began looking at his siblings.

"For helping Lucy?" Alice asked him, thinking that if the criminals helped humans then she would have to see what type of people good Samaritans were.

They stood there for a moment and then began to hear a birds chirping. As they walked outside Susan thought she heard the craziest thing.

"Did that bird just 'psst' at us?" She asked everyone else, and soon they were all outside looking around and following the bird with their eyes before hearing someone in the woods. While Lucy, Susan and Peter huddled together Alice gravitated to Edmund and grabbed a part of his coat looking at a hill to see whatever terrible thing was coming for them, only to be met with the sight of a beaver.

"Well that was anti-climactic." Alice said under her breathe while she let out the one she had been holding and moved a bit aways from Edmund, him smiling at her joke.

Peter moved forward to the animal holding out his hand and making some clicking noise thinking it might come closer, but the reaction given wasn't the most expected.

"Well I ain't gonna smell it." The beaver told him and Alice grabbed onto Edmunds coat this time more in shock than fear, Edmund didn't seem to notice since he was more focused on the talking beaver.

"It can talk!" Alice said in astonishment.

"Lucy Pevensie?" The beaver asked holding up a handkerchief and Lucy and she took it a look of recognition on her face.

"This is the hankie I gave to Mr. Tumnus." She said as she studied the piece of cloth and Alice moved forward loosening her grip on Edmund but not letting go completely.

"Tumnus, he gave it to me right before they got him." The Beaver said sadly.

"Is he all right?" Lucy asked worried for her friend.

"Further in, where it's safe." The Beaver told them before moving through some trees and urging them to follow.

"Wait, how do we even know we can trust him?" Edmund had a point, they didn't even know if he was a spy for the witch who had stolen the hankie to draw them in.

"He says he knows the Faun." Peter reasoned and Alice looked between him and Lucy.

"He's a beaver he shouldn't be saying anything!" Susan told her brother before the Beaver looked back at them and told them to hurry along.

"I think we should follow him." Alice said, trying to stop the argument she could feel coming.

"What makes you think that?" Edmund asked her, Susan's eyes doing the same.

"I don't know, intuition?" Alice said to them, not really coming up with a good idea herself.

"Well come on." Peter said taking Lucy's hand and following the Beaver with Susan close behind.

Alice looked back at Edmund and held out her hand, he looked at it and then moved forward to follow but not taking her hand. Though she was a bit hurt she hurried to catch up, hoping her intuition was right.


	5. Chapter 5

By nightfall the group had followed the Beaver, aptly named Mr. Beaver, back to his home.

"It looks lovely." Lucy said when they reached the dam that the beavers called home.

"Oh it's merely a trifle, there's still a lot to do but it is home." He said looking a bit embarrassed. Alice took it has him being modest and smiled at the sweet home he had made. Soon another beaver emerged.

"Beaver, is that you? I've been worried sick! If you've been out with Badger again I swear-" She was saying to her husband but she stopped as soon as she saw the group with him.

"You're not Badger." She said her voice unbelieving.

"Well I would hope we weren't fuzzy creatures. No offense!" Alice said, realizing the insult that could have been taken. Her mother had always taught her to be polite to anyone who spoke to her, though her mother probably never expected someone who spoke to her to be a beaver.

"Oh none taken, I would think the same if I had thumbs." Beaver told her, and Mrs. Beaver moved forward.

"I never thought I'd live to see this day!" She told them and then started to primp a bit, "Look at my fur, you couldn't have given me ten minutes warning?" She asked her husband, and instantly Alice knew she would like Mrs. Beaver. She reminded her of her Aunt Ida.

"I would have given you a week if I thought it would have helped." Beaver told her and had everyone laughing except for Edmund.

"You okay Ed?" Alice him, hardly noticing that she had used his families nickname for him, he knew about her brother so she felt she had the right. Mrs. Beaver ushered everyone inside and as they ducked under the door he replied.

"Fine." He said mostly to himself looking at the same mountains as before, and Alice left him to his thoughts. Alice was barely paying attention which was why she hit her head on the door frame.

"Well that smarts." She said to herself rubbing where she knew a bump would be forming.

"You should watch where you're going." Susan told her looking around for a cloth they might be able to put some ice in.

"Oh don't worry I'm fine." She said with a smile and sat down taking off her jacket, and looking around the Beaver's home. It was very warm and cozy with different things you would expect to find in any country home. She quite liked it.

Mrs. Beaver quickly set to pouring them all some tea and setting out a few biscuits for them to snack on. They had taken off their coats and laid them aside so they wouldn't burn up to much with the fire going.

"Isn't there anything we can do to help Tumnus?" Peter asked Mr. Beaver while Susan poured some more tea.

"They've taken him to the Witches castle, and you know what they say, there's few that go through them gates that come out again." Beaver said looking at everyone and Alice saw Lucy look down, worried for her friend.

"Fish & Chips?" Mrs. Beaver asked trying to steer the conversation to a lighter topic, but still saw Lucy's expression. "There's always hope dear." She said warmly, smacking her husband a bit while he drank his tea causing him to cough.

"Of course there's hope!" Beaver said putting down his drink, and he looked around as if for enemies before turning back to them and whispering "Aslan is on the move."

At the mention of the name something warmed in Alice. She had never heard that name before and wondered who he was. She leaned closer to the Beaver hoping to get more information about the person he meant.

"Who's Aslan?" Edmund asked, while everyone else just thought about the name. As Alice went to look she saw he wasn't as affected by the name perhaps as the rest. The Beavers laughed a bit to themselves as if the question itself was strange but then stopped.

"You don't know?" Beaver asked, as if he had been asking if the sky was blue.

"Well we haven't really been here very long." Peter explained but Beaver soon cut him off.

"He's only the King of the whole Wood!" Beaver explained and Alice felt that may have explained some of his names grandeur but she knew there was something else, and soon Beaver continued, "The top geezer the real king of Narnia!"

"He's been away for a long while." Mrs. Beaver explained.

"But he's just got back, and he's waiting for you at the Stone Table." Beaver explained, and Alice was wondering what he meant. Aslan was waiting for them?

"He's waiting for us?" Lucy said, voicing the thoughts in Alice's mind.

"You're blooming joking! They don't even know about the Prophecy." Beaver said alarmed by the fact that they didn't know any of what had been common knowledge his whole life!

"Well then…" Mrs. Beaver said meaning he should explain.

"Look Aslan's return, Tumnus Arrest, the Secret Police it's all happening because of you!" He told them and Susan took it a different way than expected.

"You're blaming us?" She asked them feeling a bit put out.

"No we're thanking you!" Mrs. Beaver Reassured.

"There's a Prophecy, 'When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone, sits at Care Paravel in Throne, the Evil time will be Over and Done." He said calmly.

The words flowed around Alice as she heard them, but didn't really understand why. May be it was like how she felt when she heard Aslan's name? But then thinking over it this was different, like it was something deep in her bones.

"You know that doesn't really rhyme." Susan said.

"She's right." Alice said with a laugh and looked to see if Edmund found it funny, but he wasn't where he was sitting before. _'Where did he go off to?'_

"You're missing the point." Mr. Beaver said snapping her out of it but she still wondered where he was.

"It had long been foretold that when two sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia." Mrs. Beaver explained stopping Alice in her tracks.

"Two sons and two daughters, but there are three girls here." Alice said looking between Susan and Lucy.

"Well, I don't really know. The prophecy never told of another daughter of Eve." Mrs. Beaver said and Alice wondered to herself.

_'It has to mean Lucy and Susan, I don't make sense.'_ Alice thought to herself,_ 'Maybe I'm just here to help.' _She reasoned.

"You think that we're the ones?" Peter asked as he looked at Alice and then back to the Beavers.

"Well you better be because Aslan's already fitted out your army!' He told them.

"Our Army?!" Lucy asked astonished, while her siblings grew worried. Susan went to take hold of her brothers arm

"Mum sent us away so we wouldn't get caught up in war." Susan told her brother and Alice knew it was the same for her.

"I think you've made a mistake, we're not heroes." Peter told the Beavers but Alice remembered what Edmund said and knew some part of him would want to fight.

"We're from Finchley." Susan said as if it would add to the argument.

"I'm not." Alice told them, reminding them that their decisions involved her a bit too.

"So you want to stay and fight a war we have no part in?" Susan asked her standing up.

"The prophecy has to be talking about you!" Alice told her, looking at her and Peter.

"You said yourself that we have three girls not two, so that means it's not." Peter said trying to make Alice see reason.

"Two son's of Adam and two daughters of Eve, you're all family. It can't be a coincidence!" Alice told them, "They need you." Alice said looking into their eyes.

"No, thank you for your hospitality Mr. and Mrs. Beaver but we really must be going." Susan told the Beavers as she went to grab her coat.

"You can't just leave!" Mr. Beaver said to them trying to have them stay.

"He's right, we have to help Mr. Tumnus." Lucy told her siblings and Alice nodded in agreement.

"It's out of our hands." Peter said using his 'I'm older and what I say goes voice'.

'Now I'm starting to understand why Edmund get's so annoyed,' Alice thought before realizing something.

"Where's Edmund?" Alice said looking around the home for the youngest Pevensie boy.

"What?" Peter asked, looking to where he had been sitting. "I'm gonna kill'em!" Peter said to his sister but Beaver's words stopped him from leaving.

"You may not have to. Has Edmund ever been to Narnia before?" Beaver asked them and both Lucy and Alice looked at each other shocked.

"Yes, but I don't know where he went." Lucy explained.

"We have to go now!" Beaver said and made his way for the door, everyone grabbed their coats and made their way after him throwing on the furs.

"He was staring at the mountains earlier, I had my suspicions but now I know it's true!" Beaver told them while they ran through the forest.

"What's true?" Alice asked as they ran to catch up trying to dodge trees.

"He met the Witch and she must have turned him to her side." Beaver told them while he lead the way.

"Turn to her side?" Susan asked trying to make sure Lucy kept up, it was hard enough not having Edmund with them, and she would not loose Lucy in this forest!

"She has her ways, if she met him before he knew of this world she must have tried using him to get you here. Promised him something." Beaver explained, and soon they were at the top of a hill and beyond it was a castle that looked like it was made completely of ice.

They could only stare at it, think if they blinked it may have faded away.

"Edmund!" Lucy cried out, when she thought she had seen the silhouette of her brother.

"Shh she'll hear you!" Mr. Beaver said to her but before he could calm her down Peter was sprinting forward with Alice and Mr. Beaver moving to hold him back.

"You're playing into her hands!" Beaver told him, trying to get him to stay.

"We can't just let him go!" Susan told him.

"He's our brother!" Lucy added.

"He's the bait." Beaver said, "the Witch wants all four of you" he then looked at Alice, "and even though you may not be prophesized any human that she gets her hands on is in danger!"

"Why?" Peter asked, wanting to know why he couldn't go and get his brother back to be safe.

"To stop the prophecy from coming true, to kill you!" He told them and they were all stopped, they didn't think it would come to this.

"This is all your fault." Susan told Peter moving towards him.

"My fault?" He asked surprised she would have even started this.

"None of this would have even happened if you would have just listened to me in the first place!" Susan said in anger.

"Oh so you knew this would happen?" Peter, asked his sister trying to find her 'logic'.

"I didn't know what would happen, which is why we should have left while we still could!"Susan argued back.

"Stop it both of you, you're acting like children!" Alice told them as she got between the two eldest.

"What say do you even have? You've only known us for two days!" Peter yelled at her, thinking she should stay out of their business.

"Well I'm stuck here too, and all this arguing is going to get you nowhere." Alice told Peter getting into his face.

"And how do you know that?" Peter asked.

"Look where it's gotten your brother!" Alice told him and Peter stopped "he's been wanting you to be his brother not his father but you keep ordering him around like you are. I've may have only known you for two days but even I can see that!"

Peter looked at her ashamed, how had she figured that? As he thought about it he had been nothing but horrible to Ed since they'd gotten to the Professors even before and he really had no excuse.

"This is all my fault." Peter thought bringing his hands to his head. What was he going to do? His brother was captured in a strange world and all he could do was argue.

"No it isn't, it isn't anyone's fault but the White Witch." Lucy answered, looking between her siblings and Alice.

"They're both right." Beaver said.

"How can we save Edmund?" Susan asked Beaver.

"Only Aslan can save him now." He said looking at the castle, hoping that the boy would survive.

"Then take us to him." Peter said, straightening up and taking one last look at the castle before they left. They were walking for a while before Peter went up to Alice.

"How did you know?" Peter asked her, keeping his voice low enough so only she would hear.

"The way you act and he reacts. My brother did the same thing at first, before he went off to war, trying to be the man of the house, but soon my mom told him that while taking care of the family was all and good we didn't need him to replace my father. And you don't need to replace yours. Ed already has a father and so do you. He needs his brother to help him in ways a father can't. You need to be there for him, not to judge him." Alice explained before moving forward.

Peter stopped for a moment looking at her as she stood next to him. Her dark eyed stare was piercing and accusing but also wise.

"Thank you." Peter told her and but the moment was cut short by a sharp howl in the night.

"What was that?" Susan asked, but Beaver answered by running.

"It's the White Witches secret police, we have to hurry back to the dam and get Mum!" Mr. Beaver shouted and everyone followed him.

It wasn't long before they reached the house at the dam and Beaver opened the door.

"Hurry mum they're after us!" Beaver told her as she shut the door when all of them were inside.

"Right then." Mrs. Beaver explained and began to gather some food.

"What are you doing?" Peter asked and everyone else looked at her exasperated, what was she doing at a time like this?

"It's a long journey and Beaver gets cranky when he's hungry." She explained while she gathered bread and other supplies.

"I'm cranky now!" Beaver told her as he was opening some passage.

"Do you think we'll need jam?" Susan asked Mrs. Beaver as she packed.

"Only if the Witch serves toast." Peter told her while he tried to figure a way out without being spotted.

They heard the wolves clawing at the house then, sniffing around and trying to find a way inside.

"In here now, it's a passage I made." Beaver told them and led them through before the wolves could make it in. They climbed down a roped and then made it into a tunnel and they started running with Peter holding a torch to light the way.

"Badger and I dug this place up months ago, leads right to his place." Beaver explained. The walls of the tunnel were packed tight with bits of roots making their way through. It was warmer than outside thankfully.

"You told me it led to your mums!" Mrs. Beaver told her husband,

"Does that really matter now?" Alice asked her while they ran. Lucy tripped in their haste and while they stopped to help her they heard them, the wolves.

"They're in the tunnel." Lucy whispered in fear and everyone got up quickly to move faster.

"This way hurry!" The beavers told them and the children followed praying the wolves wouldn't find them. There were so many twists and turns that Susan was sure they were lost and her suspicions seemed right when they stopped at a dead end.

"You should have brought a map!" Mrs. Beaver told her husband.

"There wasn't room next to the jam!" He retorted before climbing up through a holes they hadn't seen. Peter made sure Susan, Alice and Lucy made it up before he followed behind and they were out of the tunnel.

As they escaped Peter and Beaver moved to put the cask in the way of the hole back where it was. Alice then noticed Lucy follow over some stones, only they weren't stones.

"Oh no…" Alice said as she looked at the frightened faces of the statues. Soon they saw Beaver walk over to the statue of a badger and he seemed so sad.

"I'm so sorry dear." His wife told him comfortingly.

"He was my best mate." Beaver said, the group of four behind them could only look on sadly while Beaver mourned his friend. Soon they looked around to find that it wasn't only a few animals it was a large group.

"What happened here?" Peter asked as he looked at the statues, Alice and Lucy went to see a family of Hares, the babies looking so small.

"This is what happens to those who cross the Witch." A new voice explained, it frightened everyone and they looked to see a red fox perched on a stone.

"You take one more step traitor and I'll chew you to splinters!" Beaver said as he marched towards the fox.

"Relax" The fox told him, leaping down, "I'm one of the good guys."

"Oh yeah, well you look an awful lot like the bad ones." Beaver told him, and Alice had to admit it was true, in the looks anyway.

"An unfortunate family resemblance." As the Fox was saying this Peter was moving the girls behind him meaning to protect them and Susan put her arms around Lucy and Alice. "But we can argue breeding later, right now we've got to move!" As he was talking they could hear they wolves coming behind them.

"What did you have in mind?" Peter asked and all the fox did was look up. Alice didn't need to be told twice she made for the nearest tree and called Lucy over locking her hands together.

"Come Lucy I'll give you a boost." She told her and lifted the light little girl up. "Grab the first strong looking branch you can find and hold tight."

The others soon made their ways up Peter tossing up the Beavers to Susan and Alice before climbing up himself. There they waited for the wolves to pass. The wolves busted out of the tunnel while The Fox was sweeping away their tracks.

"Greetings gents, lost something have we?" Fox asked them with a snarky voice while the wolves circled him. The Fox kept a straight face while the wolves looked him over with what could have been hunger and hatred.

"Don't patronize me, I know where your allegiance lies." Maugrim, told Fox a he circled him menacingly. "We're looking for some humans."

"Humans?" Fox laughed, "Here in Narnia? Now that's a valuable bit of information don't you think?" But the Fox was attacked by one of Maugrim's subordinates, Lucy gasped as the wolf sunk his teeth into the small creature and Peter had to put his hand over her mouth.

"Your reward is your life, it's not much." The wolf said this with a laugh and Alice felt for the Fox. His life was worth ten times that stupid wolf's.

"But still, where are the fugitives?" Maugrim asked again, Fox looked broken, as if he would give them away. He looked up to see Peter who felt his heart grip with fear. The fox sighed and responded.

"North, they ran North." Fox told the wolves to lead them away and the group in the trees let out a sigh of relief.

"Smell them out." Maugrim said and while they left, the wolf holding Fox threw him to the side and ran with his pack.

Peter kept everyone in the tree for a few more minutes after the wolves howling had died down to make sure they didn't come back before he helped everyone down. Alice and Beaver ran over to Fox quickly taking in his injuries, hoping they weren't too bad.

"Peter we should make a fire." Susan said while Alice and Mrs. Beaver took a cloth from her pack and began to clean the rooms some. Peter though on in and decided to wait for a bit longer so the wolves wouldn't smell the smoke.

"Thank you." Fox told them as he tried to stand.

"No try and stay still for a bit, this looks bad." Alice told him, it was at almost half an hour later when they were sure the wolves were gone that the fire was going and Alice looked back at the Fox. "Would it be all right if I carried you?"

"I would be honored." The Fox told her and she placed him next to the fire while Mrs. Beaver tended his wounds. "I see there are four of you but only one son of Adam, care to explain."

"Edmund, was tricked by the White Witch, she's at his castle." Alice told him, while the Pevensies looked into the fire with worry. "I don't really know why I'm here. I guess it was an accident."

"There are no accidents when it comes to Narnia my dear, everything happens for a reason." Fox told her, flinching while Mrs. Beaver tended to her wounds.

"Do you think Aslan will know?" Alice asked, feeling the strength saying the name gave her.

"Most likely he will, Aslan knows many things." Fox said, soon they were in a state of silence before Beaver broke it again.

"What happened to everyone here?" Badger asked Fox, hoping to understand why his best friend had been turned to stone.

"They were helping Tumnus, and the Witch got here before I did- OW!" He exclaimed while Alice hit a tender area while cleaning his wound.

"Are you all right?" Lucy asked him quietly.

"Well I wish I could say their bark was worse than their bite." Fox said with a laugh and Alice smiled, but then Mrs. Beaver hit a different sore spot while wrapping.

"Oh stop squirming, you're worse than Beaver on bath day." Mrs. Beaver told him while she continued to wrap.

"Worst day of the year." Beaver told the group, and soon Fox was moving to get up.

"Well I am afraid this is all the healing I can stay for." Fox said as he rose to his feet. Looking still a bit worse for wear, but better than before.

"You're leaving already?" Lucy asked, thinking it was too soon and that Fox needed to rest longer.

"It has been a pleasure my Queen and an honor, but time is short and Aslan himself has asked me to gather more troops." Fox said to them all as he prepared to leave.

"You've seen Aslan? What's he like?" Beaver asked him in awe, his wife coming in closer to hear the Fox's tale.

"Like everything we've ever heard. You'll be glad to have him by your side in the battle against the Witch." Fox said pointedly at Peter.

"But we're not planning on fighting any Witch." Susan interjected, and Alice could only look at the hands in her lap, why didn't she want to help?

"But surely King Peter? The Prophecy?" Fox asked him. Why wouldn't they help, this was their destiny.

"We can't go to war without you." Beaver told him, and Alice knew this would be one of the biggest decisions he would have to make. He looked at his hands for a moment, truly contemplating whether to stay or leave. But honestly, he had made a promise to his mother and war had already taken one family member away, he didn't want another missing too.

"We just want our Brother back." He told them.

Fox sighed and stood to the all "Well I hope that in time you will see how much we truly need you."

He then bowed saying the names of his royalty. "King Peter, Queen's Lucy and Susan, Lady Alice." Stopping the girl short at his way of addressing her. "Beaver, Mrs. Beaver I leave them in your capable hands." And soon he was off, to go and help Aslan fight the White Witch leaving a trail of small feet in the snow.


End file.
